Black hole found in Milky Way

German astronomers tracked the movement of 28 stars circling the centre of the Milky Way, using the European Southern Observatory in Chile. The black hole is four million times heavier than our Sun, according to the paper in The Astrophysical Journal.

link

I know, black holes at the centre of galaxies known about for some time, but this puts it beyond doubt by the looks of things.

Nice.

[edit on 9/12/2008 by Irma]

what??? every galazy has a black hole in the center of it.

In the universe we have a black hole and a white hole.

some thinkg we have both in each galazy there is a black hole and a white hole.

the other side of the blackhole is a white hole..

reply to post by computerwiz32


Nice computerwiz, couldn't have said it any better myself.
Good summary of how it all works by providing no links wiz- in true ATS fashion.

they have known of the existence of a black hole at the center of our galaxy for years, its called sagittarius a*, this experiment was to see the effects of huge gravity fields and other scientificy stuff!

I wasn't aware the existence of the black hole in the center of the Milky Way was in doubt.... but still .... always nice to have solid confirmation I guess

White holes? Some info on these would be appreciated.

I know this is off topic but hers'a another black hole. This one seems to have something to do with greed and it's comeuppins.
The Black Hole (3 min Short Film)
www.flixxy.com...

reply to post by computerwiz32

the other side of the blackhole is a white hole

Wrong.

Read and learn.

that is, if black holes exist of course,

one example:

Krauss's answer: Hawking's riddle is a trick question. Due to the relative nature of time under Einstein's general theory, time should stop at the event horizon. Anything that approaches, therefore, should come to a halt before it falls into the black hole, effectively preventing the black hole from forming in the first place.

Source

A more recently proposed view of black holes might be interpreted as shedding some light on the nature of classical white holes. Some researchers proposed that when a black hole forms, a big bang occurs at the core, which creates a new universe that expands into extra dimensions outside of the parent universe.[4] See also Fecund universes.

The initial feeding of matter from the parent universe's black hole and the expansion that follows in the new universe might be thought of as a cosmological type of white hole. Unlike traditional white holes, this type of white hole would not be localized in space in the new universe, and its horizon would have to be identified with the cosmological horizon.

From your own link. Sure, theoretical, but all white holes are theoretical, so it's definitely not 'wrong'. Although computerwiz certainly could have expanded a little further.

Originally posted by AmericanDaughter
I know this is off topic but hers'a another black hole. This one seems to have something to do with greed and it's comeuppins.
The Black Hole (3 min Short Film)
www.flixxy.com...

Neat movie, but meticulously off to...
Wait, never mind.


Great article, thank you for posting.

What a joke, yeah some are shocked to learn that black holes remain unconfirmed. The BS education system has been telling fairy tales for so long they've become reality in the minds of people.

Where's the evidence? more accurate observations of the motions of bodies at the galactic centre doesn't not make a hypothetical cause any more real. It's just the same argument with better numbers.
It's laughable and a little desperate I think.

Im sure this is pretty old news.

The Blackhole at the center of the milkyway was actually found ...or rather "confirmed" in 2001 by the Chandra X-ray Observatory. It was seen that stars whirlling around, close to the center....were reching up to 80 to 90 percent the speed of light!!!!!

Can you imagine a star flying around that fast!!????!! crazy.

This is the NOVA documentary on the subject..... please watch ALL parts. its very interesting.



You can watch all parts here at NOVA's website, they are in quicktime and realvideo formats.

NOVAs website: Monster of the Milkway!!

Or you can watch them on you tube .....Here's the first TWO to get yer started.






Cheers!


AoN

No this is a recent announcement, so it was not "confirmed" at all, there's no evidence here.
chandra.harvard.edu...

If one looks at what is observed and then asks how are gamma rays and x-rays created here on Earth? then you's be looking in the right direction I think.

reply to post by squiz


correct and Colbert has now offically taken the blackhole off his all mighty notice list!!!

Be praised laides and gentalmen.. The blackhole is now no longer on Notice!!!

Sleep well tonight!

reply to post by Irma


Has anyone ever SEEN a Black Hole?

Yahoo Answers:

Black holes are not visible (at least, not with our current technology). And they will not likely ever be visible, since the event horizon that surrounds a black hole is the distance from the black hole itself where nothing (not even light) can escape - so even if we were close to one we could only "see" the event horizon as a black sphere, we would never be able to "see" a black hole.

And since black holes are very small and do not emit light, they are not visible at this time even with our most powerful telescopes. Their existence is theoretical, and the observations made that lead astronomers to identify black holes are not visible light (radio, xrays, gravitational waves).

Dr Massey said: "Although we think of black holes as somehow threatening, in the sense that if you get too close to one you are in trouble, they may have had a role in helping galaxies to form - not just our own, but all galaxies.

"They had a role in bringing matter together and if you had a high enough density of matter then you have the conditions in which stars could form.

"Thus the first generation of stars and galaxies could have come into existence"

I'm not going to call BS on this right away, but could someone please clarify this for me because it makes absolutely no sense. How is it that a black hole, which is a collapsed star, could be responsible for the formation the first generation of stars in the universe? Isn't the very existence of a black hole predicated on there being stars in the universe?

reply to post by theindependentjournal

Has anyone ever SEEN a Black Hole?

For a more serious answer I would say.. Hmm from what I know if you saw a black hole your in big trouble!
From what I know light can not escape a black hole.
Hence if you see a blackhole that means light is being sucked into this blackhole.
We see light photons.. Thus that means you are on your way into the blackhole!!

So lets hope we dont see one..!

Detecting one is much different! Thats just graphs and instruments that say yeah theres something out there but we arent sure what it is.

Yet if you can "see" one.. It means you are already on your way in right?

The closest black holes yet discovered are several thousand light-years away. They are so far that they have no effect on Earth or its environment. A super-massive black hole appears to inhabit the center of the Milky Way galaxy, about 27,000 light-years away. Although it is several million times the mass of the Sun, its great distance insures that it won't affect our solar system.

Black Holes don't seem to be our immediate concerns here on good ole Terra fir ma, but the financial and global catastrophes are just around the corner....IMHO...

Not a "New" find for us here at the forums, but a topic worth deep and unsaturated conversations.

Source for the above quote:
blackholes.stardate.org...

Originally posted by zysin5
(...)Hence if you see a blackhole that means light is being sucked into this blackhole.(...)

A black hole doesn't suck anything. It is not even as such a proper hole. It is some matter that is so dense that some distance around it, the gravity it generates prevents anything from escaping its orbit.

So:
1. If you're far away enough (i.e. outside of its 'horizon'), you are not attracted by it.
2. If you're close enough, but still out of its horizon, your trajectory (provided you are moving) will be bent, just like the probes we send in space to use the gravity of other bodies (moon, jupiter, etc.) to accelerate them
3. As explained above, you can't even see a black hole: it returns no light. Therefore, all you could see is indeed the black sphere that constitutes its horizon.

Links (wiki):
Black hole
Event horizon of a black hole
Animation of a simlated black hole distorting a background galaxy image

Id like to add a couple of things, first off a "black hole" is an actual solid object. The most solid objects in the universe.
The matter they attract is deposited on the surface of the object, it doesnt dissapear or leave the universe.
They are only a "hole" as far as gravity is concerned.
And although any visible light they might generate cannot escape its pull, they do glow in x-rays and other high energy radiation.
They also dont suck in pasing light, it is bent around the object.
If you were to look at a black hole you wouldnt see a black disc, but rather a wierd distorted region of stars, as the light from stars behind the black hole is bent around it.